Thirty Member States and the European Union have been announced as Global Champions for the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy, a summit-level meeting to take place in September 2021, convened by the UN Secretary-General. Among the Member States taking this important role will be: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Nauru, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Poland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Additional Champions are expected to be announced in the weeks ahead.
The Global Champions will spearhead advocacy, raise awareness and inspire commitments and action on the five themes decided for the Dialogue, helping inform a global action plan to achieve clean energy for all by 2030, thus reaching Sustainable Development Goal #7 by the agreed deadline and spurring decisive climate action, accelerating the push to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, a top goal of the UN this year.
Of the five themes, three focus on advancing substantive progress on: 1) energy access; 2) energy transition; and 3) enabling the SDGs through inclusive, just energy transitions. The last two themes, which are cross-cutting, focus on means to achieve those crucial objectives through 4) innovation, technology and data; and 5) finance and investment. The Dialogue preparations will be designed to address these issues holistically.
The Global Champions will also play a key role in mobilizing voluntary commitments in the form of Energy Compacts that Member States, businesses, cities and other stakeholders will present for the High-level Dialogue; the Compacts will feed into the COP 26 climate meeting in November as well. UN-Energy, the UN¡¯s inter-agency mechanism for collaboration in the energy field, will also support the mobilization of Energy Compacts.
As part of the lead-up process for the High-level Dialogue, the Global Champions will also co-host a series of ministerial-level thematic forums, to spur commitment and action. The forums will base their work on reports from technical working groups, each suggesting key actions needed to achieve clean energy for all in their relevant thematic area.
The Global Champions for the High-level Dialogue on Energy 2021 are:
- Energy access: China, The European Union, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia
- Energy transition: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, India, Poland, Nigeria, Spain, United Kingdom
- Enabling SDGs through inclusive, just energy transitions: Honduras, Iceland, Nauru, Panama, Portugal, United Arab Emirates
- Innovation, technology and data: Finland, Mauritius, Morocco, Russian Federation
- Finance and investment: Dominican Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
For more information: /en/conferences/energy2021
[This article has been updated to reflect the additional Global Champions, bringing the total to 30]
